This weekend marks the beginning of the Extreme Weather Emergency Shelter program across BC.
BC Housing covers the costs of running the shelters on nights it’s very cold, or very wet.
Organizations have to find other money if they want to open every night until April 1st.
Clarence Yi is the rector of St. Hilda’s Church in Sechelt, where the Sunhine Coast shelter is setting up.
“Unfortunately, we are not likely to be able to keep the shelter doors open every night, but we will try our best to offer the most number of nights based on our funding,” he says.
Yi also says this is a bit of a transition time for the shelter, as they search for an agency to work with that can provide more expertise and, in the longer term, continue work toward getting a permanent homeless shelter for the region.
In Nanaimo, the City has committed 45-thousand dollars to keep the shelter at the First Unitarian Church open every night.
John Horn is Nanaimo’s Social Planner. “We want to use the shelter as a way of connecting with those folks and then helping them transition out of the shelter and into permanent housing,” he says.
Horn says the City is kicking in a further 45-thousand dollars to help get those chronically homeless into rental units and support them once they’ve got a place.
